Upcoming policy issue

Chris Mitchell speaks with Andy Schwartzman, Senior Counselor at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, about pressing legal issues affecting telecommunications policy in the U.S.

Charter CFO Jessica Fisher recently announced that Charter will spend substantially less on pursuing Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants than the company spent on Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) [funny wording for how a company wins federal money]. This is big news because a natural assumption in some state broadband offices is that Charter would likely be a big player in the BEAD grant process.

Donald Trump could have an easier time limiting press freedom in his second term in the White House after a campaign marked by virulent rhetoric towards journalists and calls for punishing television networks and prosecuting journalists and their sources, legal scholars and journalism advocacy groups warn.

The Universal Service Fund (USF) has been stuck in legislative limbo as the government wrestles with how to improve the subsidy program. Experts think USF reform could see momentum in Trump’s second term, but how that will pan out is a trickier question to answer. The USF, which supports broadband access and affordability in rural and low-income communities, is made up of four [sic] smaller programs: Connect America Fund, Lifeline, E-Rate and Rural Health Care. One glaring problem with the current USF framework is the shrinking contribution base.

The future of the $8.5 billion Universal Service Fund (USF), which supports broadband access in schools, libraries, and rural communities, hangs in the balance as three critical court cases move forward. In a rare twist, two cases saw oral arguments on the same day, adding a sense of urgency to the outcomes. These decisions could redefine affordable internet connectivity for students, families, and communities nationwide. We summarize each case and outline the stakes for the E-rate and other USF programs. As we await the courts’ decisions, SHLB is not just observing from the sidelines.

President-elect Donald Trump picked Tesla CEO Elon Musk and biotech company founder Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, to lead an effort to cut spending, eliminate regulations and restructure federal agencies. Musk and Ramaswamy will lead what the president-elect called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE . The group’s mandate is to streamline government bureaucracy, the president-elect said.

Even before Donald Trump was re-elected, his best-known backer, Elon Musk, had come to him with a request for his presidential transition. He wanted Trump to hire some employees from Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, as top government officials — including at the Defense Department. That request, which would seed SpaceX employees into an agency that is one of its biggest customers, is a sign of the benefits that Mr.

When it comes to tech policy, the next Congress has a seemingly endless to-do list. It includes hashing out a deal on an elusive federal privacy law, coalescing on how to address booming products driven by artificial intelligence and countering harms on social media.

It's very likely that the incoming Trump administration will smile on satellite Internet companies such as SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper. And that could have serious implications for fiber vendors like Calix and Corning, as well as fiber network operators like AT&T, Brightspeed, Altice, Windstream and others. The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program is designed to funnel $42.45 billion through US states for broadband networks in rural areas.

Presidential elections have real impacts arriving quickly. I think the following changed policies and strategies will happen fast, because the glidepath is both well-lit and pre-planned.